Latest update March 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 20, 2019 News
Details from Monday’s small-plane crash are painting a picture of tragedy leading up to the midnight rescue of two men from the tough terrains in the West Demerara backdam area.
Yesterday, the operations continued with an army helicopter retrieving the body of a well-known missionary, Christopher Matthews, who was killed Monday morning during rock climbing in the interior.
Matthews’s body was being brought out to the Ogle airport when the single-engine plane reportedly ran out of fuel and went down over West Demerara, in the water conservancy area south-west of the Canal Number Two dam.
The Captain of the Cessna 182, bearing registration N8704T, was Lionel Gomez, an experienced pilot. With him was Police Constable Mark Grimmond.
Grimmond suffered a broken leg and other injuries while the pilot reportedly sustained injuries to his jaw.
Yesterday, the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) said that inspectors were dispatched to the crash site of the Cessna 182 aircraft which came down close to the Canal Number 2 Conservancy area.
They have commenced their investigation into the aircraft accident, GCAA disclosed.
“Based on the Preliminary Report, the aircraft owned and operated by Guyana Adventist Medical Aviation Services (GAMAS), departed Arau in Region Seven at 17:06hrs on February 18, 2019, destined for the Eugene F. Correia International Airport when the Guyanese pilot, Captain Lincoln Gomez, made a MAYDAY call to the Timehri Control Tower reporting a fuel emergency around 18:45hrs.”
According to the aviation regulator, the aircraft went down with the pilot and one passenger, Constable Mark Grimmond from the Guyana Police Force. In the plane also were the remains of Christopher Matthews, a United States missionary.
GCAA confirmed that Constable Grimmond used his cell phone and reported that both himself and the pilot were injured, but could not confirm their location.
“The Aeronautical Search and Rescue Coordination Centre at Timehri was activated and the following agencies responded- the Guyana Defence Force, Guyana Police
Force, the Civil Defence Commission, GCAA, Guyana Fire Service and the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority.”
A Roraima Airways aircraft conducting a reconnaissance flight identified the crash site after Captain Gomez reportedly sent up a distress flare from his location.
GCAA said that from reports, the first responder team from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) landed as close as possible to the crash site.
Due to the conditions of the terrain, the rescue team had to trek for more than an hour cutting through thick vegetation to reach the crash site from the landing zone.
“The rescue team recovered the injured pilot and his passenger, and after stabilizing them, returned to the landing zone for evacuation with the Bell 206 helicopter. The injured were flown to Camp Ayanganna and subsequently transported to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation via an a
mbulance which was on standby.”
However, the body of the deceased could not be removed from the site during the first extraction due to constraints of terrain and weight.
Meanwhile, on the ground the GDF, the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Fire Service, the Civil Defence Commission, NDIA and the GCAA were mobilized at the Canal Number 2 Conservancy to be deployed for the rescue mission.
The investigation by the Guyana Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation Unit will examine all possible factors that could have contributed to this accident, the authority stressed.
According to rescuers, the army helicopter and personnel on the mission had to deal with darkness and forested area, located about five miles south-west of the Canal Number Two dam.
The pilot on Monday night was firing off those flares intermittently.
From photos, the plane was found upside down, missing the nearby trees by mere feet, a miracle how the men survived after the plane reportedly ran out of fuel.
The area is said to be part of conservancy area where logging, fishing and farming takes place.
It is swampy with parts of it savannah.
A statement from the Uncle David Gates Missions, to which Matthews was attached, said he was a missionary and director of the Kaikan Bible School in
Guyana.
It was disclosed that he fell off a mountain and was killed Monday morning, leaving a wife and two small daughters.
“It was late before our missionary plane could get there to pick up the body of Christopher Matthews and fly it to Georgetown. We located Chris’s parents and brother on a train between Romania and Turkey and got a chance to talk by WhatsApp with their two grandchildren in the jungles. They requested that we pray for Chris to be restored to life if it was God’s will and for His honor and glory,” the statement said.
“Oh what a day. Were we to lose more workers in one day? But, thank the Lord the pilot was able to get through on the phone. Both he and the policeman were injured but conscious and very grateful to be alive. Landing a plane in the trees at night is the worst possible scenario.”
The mission said that this is the second accident it had in 22 years of flying in Guyana, with nearly 15,000 hours of flight time and no fatalities.
Yesterday, the police force said it visited Constable Grimmond at the hospital and commended him for his bravery and heroism after.
“The rank who is in high spirits, is currently warded at the St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital suffering from multiple fractures to his face and a lacerations about the body.” (Additional photos and reporting by Guyanese Critic)
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